In case you were brimming with excitement hoping for some product-related content, so sorry to disappoint you this time. We didn't want this blog to be solely cluttered with content about our favorite products. Or at least not yet. Today's post is the fruit of a brief moment of introspection, observation and inspiration. It's about spreading cheer, which fits nicely with the crisp freshness of spring that is before us. Here's, Resonant Smiles.

When you genuinely smile, laugh from the heart or are truly happy, there is this positive energy that resonates between your body and your surrounding; a sort of mesmerizing aura that emanates from and draws others to you. People say you're beaming and your sincerity calls forth empathy in others. Resonant smiles are by definition honest and sincere, much like tears, and they communicate emotion wirelessly, without words - mind reading! Simply, resonant smiles breed empathy, empathy breeds inspiration, and inspiration, change. J. K. Rowling put it best in a beautiful commencement address at Harvard University in 2008, reminiscing of her time spent working at Amnesty International in London, UK:

The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives and frees prisoners. Ordinary people whose personal well-being and security are assured join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know and will never meet…. Unlike any other creature on this planet, human beings can learn and understand without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places.

To help you be happier, find that one thing that gives you joy, makes you laugh your heart out and bounce as you walk, and push to do that as often as possible. Do that over the course of your life and you would have lived a happy life, touched many people's lives with positivity, and encouraged them to pursue their dreams too. You would have made their lives happier, and effortlessly brought about change in the world by doing what you love and being happy.

I do not know how beautifully serene or hectically exhausting your day is, what difficulties you endure, or even what dreams you pursue, sure-footedly or with ambivalent trepidation. I also don't know what vicissitudes await you in the turbulent journey that is life. But what I do know, is that despite it all, you are special to someone and someone is special to you. You are a daughter, a son, a parent, a grandparent, a relative, a great friend, a teacher, a caring citizen, something. You are not alone and your heartfelt joy resonates and makes those who love you all the happier and inspired by you.

I hope you are all equally inspired by the resonant smiles and gestures of sincerity from the wonderful people in your lives. As spring emerges and summer teases, don't disappear into the immersive world of your gadgetry, or your busy lives. Instead, I urge you to enrich the lives of those you love and who love you fiercely with resonant smiles.

Your hair is a crucial element of your creative expression and personal style, and lets be honest, your daily get-ready routine is incomplete without a hair segment. Flawless brand you certainly did not wake up like that!

The hair industry has exploded in the last two decades with a plethora of products designed to give you the look you crave. However, few maintain or leave your hair healthy in the process, hence the natural healthy hair movement. Honestly, you wouldn't have found us otherwise.

At Kifahari we are focused on protective hairstyles and primarily on providing extensions for African hair braiding, a protective hairstyle for natural hair that we use ourselves. In fact, we started Kifahari Enterprises LLC because we recognized firsthand a tremendous need for high quality hair extensions for braiding. Lets face it, there are many hair extensions out there, including ones for braiding, and figuring out which ones are good enough for your hair and your style is very much a trial and error affair, bordering on faith and filled with a lot of frustration.

Rather than tell you to trust us, here's what you need to know. It's called African hair braiding for a reason: the technique originated from and is heavily practiced in Africa. So isn't it obvious that the best products for this are in, or from Africa? Well, we don't just think so, we experienced it, testing one product after another until we found ourselves using the same African hair products that we had become accustomed to. And when we started Kifahari, we sourced hair from the best hair company in East Africa; the very company that manufactured the extensions we used in our own hair.

So what's great about the hair? First some qualities common to all of our hair extensions: we only offer synthetic hair extensions for braiding. They are light-weight, soft, tangle-free, durable with a lasting luster and easy to braid. The softness is a key quality braiders love because it means the hair doesn't leave their fingers chaffed and painful. The hair also comes feathered and ready to use, so no preparative steps needed. The ends of the hair extensions are also specifically made not to unravel once braided. There are also some unique product-specific qualities. For example, our collection of kinky extensions for crotchets and kinky twists have a particular texture and look that is very distinctive and different from the look and feel of our Yaki Minky extensions, which although fairly general purpose are great for thin to medium sized box braids.

All in all, we firmly believe our products are great and we started our company focused on sharing them with the rest of the world. More than that, we are invested in starting and growing Kifahari Enterprises because we feel strongly about the protective potential of hair braiding, partly in the face of so many detrimental hair products currently available, and partly because it's an amazing means of creative self-expression with cultural significance that has survived and handed down through many generations.

In our perfect world, every woman has the freedom to use whichever products she chooses to enhance her natural beauty and express herself, all the while nurturing, appreciating and drawing confidence from her innate natural beauty, not sacrificing it for temporary fixtures. Although there's an awesome sense of accomplishment in having our braids installed by women all over the world, it's even more satisfying and worthwhile to have people remove them to find their own hair healthy and growing underneath. At Kifahari, we consider this our small contribution to the natural hair movement.

We are also very excited about Kifahari because through this endeavor we showcase and support the resourceful and creative spirit of our fellow Africans who developed our products. For once we are not focused on charitable donations to help our people, but on sustainable economic development through their own ingenuity and hard work. We simply couldn't be more proud.

That said, we are here to stay. And that means we're genuinely keen on providing the best customer experience and being as helpful as possible. We thank you so much for visiting us online. We hope you stay, poke around and let us know how we are doing and how we can improve. Importantly, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay in touch and informed of our progress.